65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
A great opportunity to visit a game park
Thank you Rowley for taking me to Hluhluwe Park and St Lucia Wetlands. It was great to see so many animals although disappointing that the elephants decided to 'hide'. Without your tour I would not have been able to do this and see some of the 'real' South Africa. I really appreciated that you had taken care of all my bookings, met me at the airport and delivered me back there.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful time, can't wait to go back!
My sister and I went on an East African 9 day Safarai in Kenya and Tanzania with Africa Safari Classics and have finally got around to doing a review (almost a year later, whoops)! We had a great time - loved the people and the environment. We'll attempt to give you a brief, or not so brief summary.
First night we stayed in EKA hotel in Nairobi, which was lovely, clean and had good food. Maurice, our contact for Africa Safari Classics met us at the hotel the morning of departure for safari and went through everything with us again, prior to introducing us to our first guide, Mackenzie, who looked after us very well in Kenya and taught us our first Swahili words.
The next morning we headed to Maasai Mara reserve, where we stayed for 2 nights at Basecamp Mara, which was amazing! We were blown away by the welcoming staff, fantastic accommodation and mass amounts of food (delicious, but a bit too much for us - 3 courses 3 times a day). Grounds were beautiful, 'tent' was amazing, loved the eco side of things and the positives for the environment. Also note Obama and his family stayed at Basecamp Mara too. We were warned to lock our tents to stop the Baboons 'taking our passports' and going through things. Basecamp is mostly fenced, however one sides boundary is 'fenced' by a river that also backs onto the reserve. You can often see animals passing through the reserve from the camp grounds. The Maasai staff also danced for us one night too, which was great to see their culture. Reflecting back, I think Maasai Mara was the best animal viewing we had. We managed to get up close to Lions, Cheetahs and many others. We managed to see a small crossing at the Mara River also, and Mackenzie did a great job getting us good spots while not interrupting the animals or other viewers. I liked the accessibility of Maasai Mara - there were a lot more tracks that meant you could get to other spots more easily if you saw something in the distance.
Day 3 we drove from Maasai Mara (Kenya) to Serengeti (Tanzania). This was a very long day of driving, including through the boarder and immigration. We joined a small family and their guide for some of this day, who had booked with the same company. At the boarder we found our new driver, Abdul. Abdul, like Mackenzie, is a veteran at tour guiding and was a pleasure to be with. He joked with us and answered our many questions.
We arrived in the Serengeti with a little game drive and arrived at our accommodation at Serengeti Tented Bush Camp. Upon arrival it looked like a bunch of canvas tents in a field, but the tents were simply amazing! My sister was actually speechless. We had the most comfortable mattresses there compared to everywhere else on our entire trip (including Singapore). We each had a double bed to ourselves, accompanied by a writing desk and sitting chair with footstool. The ensuite had a flushing toilet, but you need to give notice when you want a shower so they can fill it for you. Worst shower we had, but they made up with everything else, plus what else can you expect in the middle of the Serengeti?! The staff were very friendly and loved teaching us Swahili around the campfire. The food was lovely, but not quite as great as Basecamp Mara. Most of our stories are from our time in the Serengeti. We loved just being with the staff, learning the language and seeing the animals pass through the field. This accommodation is not fenced at all and we loved it! The first night I saw our guard chase away a Hyena over dinner. The second night I woke to hear a pride of Lions killing something right outside the staff tent (roughly 150m away from us), then heard all the Hyena's calling and fighting the Lions for the carcass. Hence why many of our stories come from that time.
Day 5 we left Serengeti and headed to Ngorongoro Crater in the hope of finding a Rhino. The Crater is worth a look as it's quite fascinating. We did see one Rhino from afar, plus many other animals. We stayed at Bougainvillea Lodge, which wasn't the best accommodation we had, but still quite good.
Day 6 we departed for Lake Manyara National Park. Lake Manyara was probably the prettiest park in my opinion due to the rainforest-like trees. Despite being the most beautiful, unfortunately it had the least animals and was quite anticlimactic at this stage in the trip. It's worth noting that we apparently did the cheaper route - Kenya to Tanzania, rather than Tanzania to Kenya, but therefore meant the smaller parks were at the end. We didn't see Lions in trees, which is unique to this park. We were told this is reasonably uncommon to see; not rare, but uncommon, mainly due to accessibility of cars. We stayed at Manyara Wildlife Camp, which was gorgeous once again!
Day 7 we headed to Tarangire National Park, which was quite pleasant. Stayed at Lake Burunge Tented Camp, which was fabulous! We had time to relax with a swim. The staff sang a version of happy birthday to someone, which was joyful, cheeky and simply beautiful!
The only day I felt unsafe was the day we crossed the border. I found the people, it was mainly the children we noticed, were less friendly than in Kenya. Of course some were great, but others yelled at us as we drove past and seemed angry we were there. A few matters later dawned on me. Basecamp Mara in Kenya works well in conjunction with the local Maasai people, and many Kenyan's have experienced the good of tourists and missionaries, and realise the good it brings to their country. However the roads we travelled on our first day in Tanzania went through many secluded villages. The tour cars travel on these dirt roads, generally varying 60-80km/hr, which creates mass amounts of dust and disruption, while the locals are just trying to live a simple life and move their herds from one place to another (generally on the roads).
I would definitely go back (if I ever save the money). The people are fabulous - kind and funny. The culture is fascinating and the animals are marvellous. Thank you, Maurice, for a wonderful time!
[Flights: We flew Melbourne to Nairobi (Kenya) with Qatar Airways via Doha. Loved Qatar Airways - so polite, give you everything you want and free care packages! We left Mt Kilimanjaro (Tanzania), also with Qatar, and flew to Singapore for a relaxing stop over (not realising how relaxing Africa would be).]
Saw the big 5 easy
Bring heeps of US dollars. Everybody wants payment in US$. I brought $3000us I should have brought $6000 for Kilimanjaro,safari,gorillas,Zanzibar,hotels,tips,day trips etc. I did 3 country's in east Africa. A stable currency is preferred over a fluctuating local currency. Foreign owned business have to pay tax in US$ I was told.
DE
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent experience !
We booked a 4 days / 3 nights Safari with Usambara and it was an excellent experience.
The camp is very nice on the river bank and our guide was really listening to us and what we wanted to see and do.
We stayed in "tents" and expected to sleep on the ground in a small usual tent, instead of that their vision of the tent is a 15m² room with solid walls, your own bathroom and an exceptional view on the river.
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about Waterberg Biosphere Reserve by rudyerasmus
Mountains and Rivers very Good, Bush veld , with quite a few Private Reserves , with the necessary facilities. Photography, Vulture, breeding colonies and Rehabilitation, Big 5 Rehabilitation and Breeding , Hot Air Ballooning
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about Pilanesberg Game Reserve by rudyerasmus
Close to Big cities, Good Camps and Good Roads , Big 5 , an Plenty of Bush veld birds , and Bird Hides
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Review about Karoo National Park by rudyerasmus
Very quaint Chalets , along the rise ,facing towering Mountains and Valleys.
Dinosaur walk , plant Identification walk. It is the Park most used by tourists , coming from the Cape or going to!
But a short stay will yield many bird and animal species
ES
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Lovely place and amazing people
I stayed at Tremisana with Viva Safari.
People working there are really nice and the place is affordable and lovely. I would only say that may be the location is not the best, as you can't see a lot of animals given that the surroundings are dry. But this is nature!
However, compared to other safaris they do have a pick up and drop off service to Johannesburg which makes things easier for people travelling by myself like me! I went to South Africa for business and stayed some extra days for a Safari.. and it's an amazing experience!!!!
May be there are other places in better locations, but the charm of the staff and they way you feel there makes every penny worth to!
IN
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Satisfactory
We 2 couple had traveled for 3 day Masai Mara park in February 2017 via Kichaka Tours & Travels. We had a satisfying tour . Before planning our tour we had regularly communicated with madam Jackline and she had always replied immediately to all our querries.
We had asked her for budget tour which she had arranged at the price as settled between us. Our stay was quite comfortable and our guide cum driver Mr Francis was an exellent person , very energetic and cooperative.
We didn't found anything controversial as our tour went according to the schedule and as per the intennerary which she had given to us.
I found Kichaka tours very cooperative and adjustable . you can remain confidant that they want take you for a ride. I mean they were quite clear about what they will provide , there were no extra demand other then what they had quoted .
PT